I lunge at her, shoving her off the chair. “I told you not to mention his name!” I yell, crouching down to punch her in the face with my uninjured hand. My fist slams into her cheekbone, and she screams bloody murder just as Z bursts into the room.
He grabs me off my sister, shoving me forcefully against the wall, and I scream in pain as he yanks my hands up over my head, forcing them into the manacles. My injured hand throbs, and the torn flesh on my wrists, barely healed, rips open again. Tears leak from my eyes of their own volition as pain ricochets up and down my arm.
“Are you okay?” Z asks, hovering over Saskia and extending his arm to help her up. His eyes fly to her thighs, bare underneath her skirt that has ridden up her legs.
“Don’t look at me like that, you pervert,” she snaps, grabbing his arm and pulling herself upright. Once she is standing, she pushes him away. “Leave. And next time, wait to be called. I had it handled, idiot.”
A muscle ticks in Z’s jaw, and he looks like he could hit her. Silently, I egg him on, but he’s got no balls, and he won’t follow through. He storms out of the room, muttering under his breath, and I think his rose-tinted glasses have dropped off.
Saskia prods at her cheek, wincing, and I hope I left a nice big bruise. Her eyes narrow with pure hatred as she strides toward me, punching me repeatedly in the gut. “You fucking bitch! How dare you hit me!” She lands another punch to my stomach, and it’s starting to hurt. What she lacks in brute strength she makes up for in enthusiasm. “You better pray this doesn’t bruise, baby sister. Daddy may have promised Ben he’d keep you alive, but I have no qualms about killing you.”
She realizes she’s given me vital intel a second too late.
I can’t contain my grin, knowing Ben is working to save me.
Emitting a frustrated scream, she hits my solar plexus again, with more force this time, and I bite back a whimper as stabbing pain spreads across my stomach.
“I don’t know why you look so smug. You’re the one chained to a wall like a filthy dog while I’m the one wearing Ben’s ring.” She thrusts out her hand, waving a monstrous diamond ring in my face.
“Ben would never pick such a hideous ring,” I say, risking another punch. “And he would never agree to marry you.”
Grabbing her purse, she removes a folded-up piece of paper, thrusting it in front of my face. It’s a cutout from The New York Times, announcing her engagement to Ben.
What the actual fuck is going on?
All the blood drains from my face, and she laughs. “I told you, you would never marry him,” she gloats. “Ben has always been mine. We were always fated to be. He loves me, and he was only with you out of obligation to Rowan.” She tucks the newspaper clipping back in her purse. “The whole of New York society will be out in force for our engagement party this weekend and then our wedding two weeks later. But don’t worry, I will take really good care of him. Rowan too.”
I thrash about in the manacles, barely feeling any pain as I scream and shout at her. “You leave my son alone! He’s my baby. Mine!” I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I know Ben wouldn’t marry her freely, and there is no way he would want her anywhere near our son, so I can only guess this is all part of some plan.
“Not anymore.” She smiles. “Daddy is already drawing up the adoption paperwork. They will both forget all about you, as if you never even existed.”
“Neither of them will ever be yours,” I roar. “Tell yourself whatever bullshit you want, but they are mine!” I thrash about as angry tears prick my eyes. She is lucky Z chained me to this wall because in this moment I want to kill her. I want to grab her surgically altered face and slam it into the wall until she’s a bloody pulp with no pulse.
Her entire body shakes with rage as she screams in my face. “Do you know how long I have been trying to have a child!? I had seven miscarriages! Seven. Do you know what that does to a woman?” She paces the cell, running her hands through her hair repeatedly, messing up the careful styling. “I was heartbroken every month when I failed to conceive. Every time when I lost my baby, another part of me died, and then you, you slut, you get pregnant without even trying.” She slaps me again, much harder this time, and stars swim behind my vision. “I hate you! You tried to steal my life, but I stole it back because you are too stupid to play the game.” She taps her temple, reining in her anger. “I haven’t always just been more beautiful than you. I’m smarter too.”
Add delusional and insane, I snipe in my head. Though I don’t articulate it because my sister is unhinged and it’s not smart to antagonize her anymore. I don’t trust she wouldn’t kill me and say I provoked her into doing it.
“How does it feel to know no one trusts you enough to tell you the truth? That you are so insignificant you don’t matter to anyone. Even Mom and Serena kept the truth from you when you called them.”
I frown before I can stop myself. How does she even know about that?
“They are still lying to you,” she sneers. “They chose protecting Daddy’s big secret over you.”
“I know he’s involved in the mafia. Mom and Serena confirmed it.” Although they didn’t explain how involved he is, and I’m newly mad at them all over again.
She laughs. “That’s not the secret. Maybe I shouldn’t say it, but who cares? You will be out of the country in a few weeks.” Her hands ball into fists at her sides as she realizes she just revealed another part of the puzzle.
For someone supposedly smart, she sure fucks up a lot.
“Daddy is Giuseppe DeLuca. Don of The Outfit.”
I can only stare at her. This has got to be another one of her delusions. Or is it? I remember everything Ben told me about the mysterious Sicilian boss. The pieces start slotting into place in my head, and it all makes sense. Holy shit. My father isn’t just connected to the mafia—he is the mafia.
“Didn’t you ever wonder why he hates you so much?” She continues goading me.
I brace myself because I know she’s preparing to sucker punch me before she leaves.
“You’re not his flesh and blood! You’re not the only slut in the family. Mom had an affair and she got pregnant with you.”
“You’re lying,” I spit, through gritted teeth. “If that was the truth, Father would have killed Mom when she was pregnant.”
“That’s what he should’ve done, but he didn’t because the sap loves her for reasons I have never quite understood. She has paid for it though, in other ways. He covered it up and took responsibility for you, but he loathes you with the intensity of a thousand suns.”
My heart pounds in my chest, and I’m not sure I can take any more. The weight of everything she has said presses down on me like a ton of bricks, and I slump against the wall, unable to disguise the effect of her revelations.
She gloats, practically purring like a cat. “Don’t take it too personally. You’re the daughter of a lowly soldier after all. You are just the sum of your DNA, and you were never going to amount to anything.” She grabs her purse, palming a hand over her hair to fix it back into place. “Consider yourself lucky you are allowed to live out the rest of your pitiful existence.” She straightens her skirt, smoothing out a few wrinkles. “And count your blessings that I’m not in charge, because if it were up to me, I’d riddle you with bullets.”